A retired NYPD lieutenant is in hot water for identifying himself as a cop in a parking dispute outside a celeb-studded event at Elaine's restaurant, the Daily News has learned.

A complaint says Peter Martin - now an unsalaried employee of the Queens district attorney's office - tried to pull rank after steering into a parking space outside the upper East Side restaurant Feb. 10.

Private security man Jason Drucker said he tapped on Martin's window and told Martin the party hosts had a city-issued permit for three parking spaces in front of Elaine's, on Second Ave. between 88th and 89th Sts.

"I told him we had a permit and he said, 'Listen, I'm a cop. I'm parking here,'" said Drucker, a retired city correction officer who worked 20 years at Rikers Island.

"He was rude. He was arrogant," said Drucker, 44. "I told him I'm a retired law enforcement officer, and he didn't care. He was an idiot."

Drucker said he leaned against the car to make his point, but Martin started backing up.

"He tried to run my foot over," said Drucker. "My foot was next to the wheel."

Martin then drove away, but not before Drucker got his plate number.

The next day, Drucker called the NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau and made a complaint. Investigators traced the plate to a city-owned vehicle in the Queens district attorney's office.

After finding that Martin recently retired on a tax-free disability pension, the probers passed the complaint on to prosecutors.

Martin, who worked in the NYPD press office before retiring after 40 years on the job, responds to crime scenes and major incidents in Queens for the district attorney as an unsalaried volunteer, the spokesman said.

The city's corporation counsel approved the highly unusual arrangement, under which Martin gets a city car.

Martin was in Manhattan "picking up papers" for the district attorney the night of the incident, Ryan said.

"When you have a city car, you are allowed to stop for a dinner break," he added.